I received this eARC for free and this is my honest review.
Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu is a cozy fantasy manga about a magical Japanese restaurant in a village stylized like a medieval German setting. We get a glimpse at the fantasy elements here and there such as portals in the restaurant to what could be other timelines or worlds but most of the storyline is fairly simplistic (there are no dragons here, at least not in volume 1).
Each chapter shows a person or group of people that are changed for the better by the comforting food and quiet kindness of the restaurant and its owner and waitress. I am looking forward to picking up future volumes to learn more about the core characters and see what other fantastic and delicious things they get up to.
Its a quick read but definitely worth a spot on the cozy fantasy shelf. I highly recommend reading it with a snack in hand. The descriptions and drawings of the food and drink in this manga made me very hungry.

A supremely entertaining manga, perfect for foodies. It reminded me of other izakaya TV shows. The food makes you drool!

Although there isn't much depth to this book, it was very cute and nice to see everyone could commonly bond over 1 thing, their love of food. It was people from all walks of life, and what I assume meant was different countries! I enjoyed the mystical air they gave to the pub when they saw the waitress opening the door for instance, of that it magically appeared in the town and no one saw when exactly. Definitely a cute 30 min read.

I got this book for free via NetGalley for a review.

This story is based around a Japanese style pub in a medieval European city. The pub gets a variety of customers who come to try its exotic food and drink.

I picked this one up as it sounded like a really fun premise. It is very good orientated with half the illustrations showing the different dishes. It is highly likely to make you hungry and desperate to try some of the tasty-looking Japanese dishes.

The world building is interesting as you don't get to see much beyond the pub itself but there are little glimpses of the city beyond. And there are hints that the pub is not quite what it seems dropped throughout the volume. From fresh ingredients that shouldn't be available in this European city, to backstreets beyond the pub's kitchen that don't seem to match those of the city.

The characters are varied and fun to get to know as new ones are introduced in each chapter. The character development isn't very deep since you see them for such a short amount of time, but you get given just enough information about them, their situations and past to feel like they are well rounded people.

There is little ongoing plot, as each chapter is very episodic, although there are a few characters that you see popping back into the pub again.

The art style was good and all the different food dishes are especially well drawn.

Overall this was a fun, light read, and I'd be happy to pick up a couple more volumes at least in this series.

If you’re looking for a “cozy” manga, let me suggest _Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu_. It takes place in a fictional town in medieval Europe. A mysterious café appears, serving different things every day but always the *exact* right thing for the patron. When the customers eat and drink here, they tend to be a little nervous, but they keep eating, and soon the meal is gone; their troubles are not forgotten but no longer as hard to handle.

If you’re looking for a manga with lots of action, this is not it. It actually reminded me a lot of the _Before the coffee gets cold_ series (except no time travel), where customers come in and deal with life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book pictured:
Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu
Author: Natsuya Semikawa
Publishing date: September 18, 2018

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lovely facial expressions that are loyal to the joy of eating food. Descriptive narrative paired with a soothing flow of words. Relatable characters who pulled at my heart strings. Richly inquisitive portrayals of dining. Magical moments shared that bring a smile to my face. Cozy and light-hearted. Predictable plot. Overall, a very good read.

An adorable cozy fantasy story about a Japanese restaurant (with portal to another place?) opening in a medieval German fantasy town. The location is cold, contains a training military, and there's mentions of extortion from nobility in the form of taxes, fighting outside of the city, and lack of fresh food or very good food in the city itself. This restaurant not only is strange in that the signage is in another language and the windows are glass but the food is like nothing else available. The visitors come looking for a good meal, some ale, and a moment to relax. They leave with full stomachs, impressed by the new food, and often with a changed outlook on life in general.
If you like cozy, slice of life stories centered around food and how it effects people, this is for you.
Be sure to read it with a snack ready because the images and descriptions of food will make you hungry.

If you love a good series that's all about eating delicious food, you're going to get hooked on Otherworldly Izayaka Nobu! Similar in concept to the donghua Cinderella Chef, Otherworldly Izayaka Nobu depicts delicious looking meals and emphasizes the enjoyment characters have while eating it.

Set in what feels like a blend of medieval Germany and modern-day Japan, this series takes place in a fictional land called Eiteriach, where knights still exist and cold beverages aren't available outside of the colder months. Then enters the new local pub, Nobu, who sets up shop right in the heart of Eiteriach and causes quite a stir with it's "strange looking" restaurant and "unreadable" menus. The fact that it serves ice cold beer out of season and food you can't even begin to dream of in the world of Eiteriach instantly creates notoriety for Nobu!

And in true isekai style, this otherworldly restaurant is just that - otherworldly! Somehow the workers at Nobu are able to transport from their own world of what seems to be modern-day Japan to Eiteriach, which is similar to medieval Germany, simply by walking through a door in their shop. Yet no one suspects a thing!

The food at Nobu is styled after traditional Japanese cooking and the restaurant has the atmosphere of an old ramen house. Serving everything from pickled vegetables and oden to kaisendon and tonjiru, Nobu quickly becomes a sensation among neighbors and travelers alike. Each chapter focuses on a special dish that is cooked and served over the course of the chapter, ending with everyone tasting the food and not shying away from their strong reactions to the meal. Each meal serves a different purpose and brings to light different characters' backstories, such as the loss of one's parents or having an epiphany regarding their dastardly ways.

Overall, this series is cute and fun, with an art style to match. The art is soft yet detailed, showcasing the food in a way that almost makes it jump off the page and straight onto your plate. So, don't go in hungry because Otherworldly Izayaka Nobu will have you craving its dishes right from the start!

The description of the food makes you crave for them and each chapter has different main characters that stumble into the pub. It has a nice slide of life feeling that leaves you with a smile on your face and wanting to enjoy life more

Since the beginning, this manga make you hungry. The main protagonist is the Japanese cuisine and a typical atmosphere in a Izakaya. The story starts with two German soldiers visiting the tavern, and it was funny as they were looking for a more typical German food, while this tavern serves only Japanese food, which introduce a new recipes in each chapter.
It slightly reminds me the Midnight dinner from Yaro Abe, which has a new dish every chapter and a some new customers with their stories.

This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This adorable little manga was just as tasty as the Japanese cuisine it celebrates! The story begins and ends with a pair of German soldiers discovering a tiny restaurant in a back alley that serves modern Japanese foods. It is clear that the town they live in is from an earlier era and also not of this world. As they sit down and enjoy a meal their troubles fall away. Each chapter introduces a new dish and a new customer.

By the end of the book my mouth was watering and I was dreaming of my next trip to Japan. I don’t tend to continue series like this that don’t have an overarching narrative, but this is the perfect refresher between other long series.

This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This review of Otherworldy Izakaya Nobu Volume 1 by Natsuya Semikawa (Author) and Virginia Nitouhei (Artist) is courtesy of NetGalley
#IzakayaNobu #NetGalley

Rating 4/5
Publication Date: 18 Sep 2018

This has been published quite a few years but I only noticed it recently when looking through graphic novels on NetGalley that it's something I should enjoy as it's a food related story. I do love Japanese food and have watched a few cooking/food anime and manga.

Things I liked:
* increased German and Japanese food related vocabulary due to the explanations
* made me want to eat despite me just having finished dinner

This I disliked or could be improved:
* A few pages in, I noticed it didn't have the initial standard warning about reading panels left to right. Anyone not familiar with manga will get confused without it.
* other than initial chapters, each chapter has different customers (characters) and there was no interaction between the customer sets

Not much story can be told in an initial volume, hoping there's more character interactions in future volumes, but it's yummy so far.

Netgalley Review

Star Rating: ★★★★★

This one was great, much better than I expected. There are still so many unknows from the first volume that now I have to read the next ones to find out where all of this wonderful food is coming from and how they get it there. I also love foreign languages so it's nice to see some of the characters throwing in German words and then the author translate those words in the margins. I've picked up a couple new words!

The story is all set around the the shop Izakaya Nobu. Where customers go in expecting to buy food only to find out that they can't read any of the signs or menus. So the chef will make them food, whatever food they want! From the simple choices of soldiers all the way to the demanding choices of a princess. They can make anything and everything and it's always delicious. Maybe its just my love for food showing, but I absolutely loved this one!

Like always read it and decide for yourself!

A tasty treat of a book. This charming manga imagines how townspeople might react if a traditional Japanese restaurant opened in a medieval German town...and features every dish in delectable detail (black & white only, unfortunately - I wish this had been in color, although I might have actually drooled on the pages if it were!). Trust me when I say to do some Yelp research before you read this, and find a traditional Japanese restaurant near you, because you will *desperately want* all of dishes shown in this manga. I know I sure do. Bonus points because I'm not usually a manga reader, but this one won me over in just a few pages, and kept me engaged all the way through. I was tickled to see that there are many more volumes in the series. I'll be watching for those.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.

Very lighthearted read. I love reading manga revolving around food and the artwork that goes into these spectacular food items. Not sure if it was just my downloading experience, but the artwork was fuzzy and the text was much sharper in image than the rest of the manga art. I wish it was a higher definition.

Hello Fellow Readers,

There's just something about mangas that feature food that just calls me to read them. They are always entertaining and leave me nothing but hungry, relaxed, and happy. There's always this wholesome feeling when sharing a good food story with others and seeing the characters appreciate and enjoy the (fictional) food. In Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu the characters find comfort and pleasure as they eat and it is delightful to read, but also a bit wonderous. It isn't hard to tell that the restaurant and food are from modern-day Japan, but the customers were of European descent from the past. How did this come to be and are we going to meet others from different areas and times? of course, this is the first book so it's mostly to introduce the shop, but I would eventually love to learn the answer to these questions.

This is the first issue of this cozy, cute and entertaining manga that revolves around food and community: an amazing world with German and Japanese culture get together in a way that makes possible to appreciate the setting of this story as well as the food choices presented by the authors

3.5 stars
A good otherworldly food manga. I appreciate that there's a glossary at the end for all the German and Japanese names for various foods used in the book. I did find the flipping back and forth between languages used to name the food a little rough though.
Each chapter is about a different food being served and mostly about different people visiting the mysterious pub that appeared recently and serves all these strange, to them, dishes. Some characters were more fun than others of course. I like all the soldiers and their love for this place.
Artwork is good. Nothing crazy special but characters are well done. I'd actually like a bit more food detail.
Good food manga, I'll likely read on at some point!

This is very different from any book I have read before but it was delightful! The stories of people coming in unhappy and then enjoying this wonderful food and leaving so happy.

A strange pub in the back alley of what seems a lot like Germany has shown up one day and is dazzling its customers with it's delicious Japanese cuisine.
Honestly, this was just a very fun and light read. The characters are always blown away with whatever the chef creates and it makes you want to go out for Japanese food yourself. The constant "Whatsontap" "What's that?" "Just trust me" was funny and cute. All in all just a no-stakes story that's a good time.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this manga in exchange for an honest review.